This Crazy World
by Hallon
Summary: Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become. Post 6x21.
1. Part 1

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 1**

* * *

"What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Uncle Luke," he smirked and walked up to the counter, dropping his duffel bag by his side.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting you." Luke grinned at him and walked out from behind the counter. They shared a short and slightly awkward hug. "How you doing?" Luke asked as he let go.

"I'm fine." Jess shrugged and sat down on a stool at the counter. "Got an interesting phone call from Liz this morning."

"Oh, right." Luke said with a nod and filled up a cup of coffee, setting it down on the counter in front of Jess. "She tell you."

"Yeah," Jess smirked. "She definitely woke me up."

"Bet she did," Luke chuckled. "So this visit…?"

"She sounded weird on the phone," Jess shrugged and caught Luke's expression. "More weird than normal that is. So I guilted the guys into letting me have tomorrow off. Thought I'd come up and see her, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"Well…"

"What? She threw him out already?"

"How did you…?"

"Luke, I may not be very close to my mother, but I still more or less lived with her for 17 years."

"Right."

"And besides, she's done it before."

"What?"

"Relax," Jess smirked and took a sip of his coffee, "I don't have any brothers or sisters you never heard of."

"Oh, good."

"She freaked out once, thought she was pregnant, got all paranoid and threw the guy out. Not that I wasn't happy he was gone."

"No good?" Luke asked, concerned.

"Definitely no good," Jess agreed with a wry smile. "It wasn't that long before she sent me here."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Um…well…" Luke said, a bit uncomfortably.

Jess looked up at him questioningly, taking another sip of his coffee.

"They actually left not that long ago," Luke blurted out, "Liz and T.J. that is. I think I talked some sense into both of them."

"Good," Jess nodded.

"Yeah, I was about to fight T.J."

"Huh, sorry I missed that," Jess smirked.

"Liz told me he left her and I found him in a bar. He refused to fight though and told me what really happened. It took some explaining before he agreed to come back with me."

Jess shook his head and his smirk widened. "You use too big words?"

"Jess!"

"What?"

Luke glared at him, but couldn't help a small chuckle escape. Jess gave him an innocent look and Luke shook his head. "Fine, I give up."

"Huh." Jess grinned at him.

"Wipe that grin off your face. He's good for her, that's all that matters."

"I know, I know. It's still fun though."

Luke looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind and shook his head.

"So, you heading over there tonight?" he asked instead.

"Didn't you just tell me they just made up?"

"Oh, right."

"I actually thought I'd ask if I could stay upstairs tonight. Go there tomorrow. I might stay the weekend, so…"

"Great. And of course you can stay here. I'm about to close; we can catch up a little."

"Sure. You want some help down here?"

"You offering?" Luke stared at him a little, to see if he was actually serious.

"Yeah," Jess chuckled, shaking his head. "You seem surprised."

"Well, you never really seemed to enjoy working here."

"That was when I didn't have any choice," Jess smirked and hopped off his stool, bringing his coffee cup with him into the kitchen.

"Ah, I forgot."

"Yeah well…" Jess shrugged and stood up, shouldering his bag again. "I'll just get my bag up."

"Ok," Luke nodded and walked out in the kitchen.

* * *

The last patrons left not long after he came back down and they went around the diner in silence for a while, cleaning and clearing tables.

"So, you're gonna be a big brother," Luke said when they were almost done.

"Yeah."

"How does that feel?"

"Not sure yet," Jess said thoughtfully. "Never really thought I'd have any siblings. Well, there's Lily, but that's different."

"Lily?"

"Jimmy's girlfriend's daughter. Didn't I tell you about her?"

"Um…yeah, I think you did," Luke said, trying to think back. "But there was no name, and not much of anything really."

Jess nodded to himself, wiping down a table. "She's thirteen, I think. Completely weird kid. Likes to hide in closets."

"Huh."

"Yeah, she scared me half to death a couple times while I was there."

"Sorry I missed it."

"Haha, very funny."

"I thought so," Luke grinned at him. "But seriously, how do you feel about this? I mean, Liz wasn't exactly…"

"You think I'd be jealous?" Jess cut him off.

"Well…it'd be a normal reaction."

"I don't know…" Jess began, standing up. "I'm 22 Luke, I've got my life back on track. What's the point?"

"I just…"

"Yeah, yeah I know." He shook his head and looked around the diner. "Well, I'm done over here."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna lock up the store room."

Jess nodded, hung the rag up in the kitchen and took a seat at the counter, waiting for Luke to get back from the store room.

"You writing anything new?" Luke asked when he came back, startling him.

"Huh?"

"Just wondering."

"Don't know…maybe," he said, not completely suppressing his smile.

"That's good." Luke looked at him with a small smile playing at his lips.

"What's the smile about?" Jess frowned.

"Just nice to see you doing something you like. You seem happy."

Jess nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he said with a shrug.

Luke shook his head with a scoff and took a last check in the kitchen before turning the lights out. "Come on, there's a couch and a TV upstairs. There might even be beer."

"As long as you don't insist on watching some lame football game," Jess smirked and waited for him to turn off the diner lights and close the door.

Luke glared at him through the now dark diner. "At least I don't watch that Dreaming Jeannie show."

Jess glared back and started up the stairs, ignoring Luke's chuckles, opting not to correct him on the name of the show.


	2. Part 2

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This chapter starts up after the season finale.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 2**

* * *

Jess stared at his uncle who was slumped on the couch. "Wow, don't you look just peachy," he finally said.

Luke raised his head enough to peer up at the intruder, but let it fall again. "Shut up," he said, but without much conviction.

"Any particular reason for this fantastic mood?"

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked, avoiding the question.

"Oh, come on, don't play dumb," Jess glared. "It really doesn't suit you."

Luke just glared at him, not answering.

"Fine," Jess scoffed and walked further into the apartment. "You talked to Lorelai yet?"

Luke's head shot up. "I…"

"Yeah, I know something happened," Jess scoffed. "I have no idea what, but I'm guessing you haven't talked to her since whatever it is happened."

"Yeah."

"So, what happened?"

Luke glared at him again, but then leaned forward, resting his head in his hands.

"Not gonna tell me,?"

"I went and talked to her," Luke said quietly.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him when he didn't continue. "And…"

"I said hi, she said hi, we stared at each other, I ran out."

"Wow, you really suck at talking."

"Look who's talking."

"Hey, don't start this on me. This isn't my thing to fix, it's yours, and so far you're obviously doing a really crappy job."

"I'm not the one who should…"

"Ok, don't play the blame game here," Jess snapped. "Unless you tell me what happened, I don't give a damn who's to blame, just fix it."

"What's with you?"

"Look, I came here to try to get some sense into you 'cause Liz's phone calls are getting really annoying. But if you really want to stay miserable, then I guess I'll just go home again and let you get on with it."

Luke sighed, but stayed silent.

"Great," Jess scoffed and started for the door. "I don't have time for this."

"I don't know what to say," Luke sighed.

Jess stopped, his hand on the door. "Well, something more than hi would be a good start," he suggested.

"I know that," Luke snapped.

"Well, you're not gonna get any further by sitting here, now are you?"

"When did you become the expert?"

"Ok, do I have to drag you out of here?" Jess asked. "'Cause let me tell you, this is getting pathetic."

"You don't understand."

"Damn straight I don't! But how the hell am I supposed to understand when you won't tell me what happened?"

"Just leave."

"OK, that's it!" Jess exclaimed, walking up right in front of Luke. "You get the hell out of that couch, now!"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you out of this damn apartment. I don't give a damn where we go, but there's no way in hell I'm just gonna let you sit there like a fucking zombie. Now get up!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!"

"Whatever, just get up."

Luke frowned at him, but eventually stood up. "What are you so angry about?"

Jess shook his head. "I was just here, ok. I got back home yesterday and almost as soon as I stepped inside Liz started calling. She kept calling constantly. She threatened to come down to Philly and get me herself. Now I just spent two days with her, listening to her going on and on about her new life philosophy and how she's gonna do everything right and that this is the best thing that's ever happened to her. I'm tired, in a crappy mood, and definitely not up for this. Ok? So just move."

Luke stared at him for a second. "I'm…"

"Gonna shut up and get a move on."

"Fine."

"I'm just gonna get my things from my car," Jess said and walked over to the door again. "Don't get any ideas," he added as he walked out.

* * *

When he got back Luke was standing in the middle of the room with two backpacks in front of him.

"Pack whatever you think you'd need for one night in there," Luke said and pointed to one of the backpacks. "I'm gonna get the rest to the car."

Jess stared at him and then at the backpack and when he turned around Luke was out of the apartment. When Luke came back Jess was standing in front of the kitchen table with the half full backpack on a chair and a pile of books in front of him.

"Come on, hurry up," Luke said from the doorway.

Jess turned around, eyeing him suspiciously. "You seem strangely chipper."

"We don't have all day," was all Luke said before walking out of the apartment again.

Jess shook his head, stuffed a couple books in the backpack and followed him.


	3. Part 3

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part ****3**

* * *

"How the hell did you get me to agree to this?"

"Actually, I didn't have to do anything," Luke pointed out. "It was your idea."

"I did not suggest this," Jess argued, with a slightly disgusted look at their surroundings.

"You said, and I quote: We'll go wherever, I don't care, just as long as you stop sitting around in this apartment like a zombie."

"That wasn't even close to a quote," Jess protested.

"Fine, I edited the language a little. That's not the point."

"And just for the record, I did not mean for you to drag me out in the middle of nowhere."

"Stop complaining and come help me with the boat."

Jess glared, but helped push the boat into the water. Then he grudgingly carried a backpack and one of the fishing rods down to it and climbed in.

Luke got in too and rowed them out while Jess looked almost sadly at the shore, and then sighed deeply.

Somewhere in the middle of the lake Luke stopped rowing, retracted the ores and let the boat drift by as it wished. Then, to Jess' disgust, Luke picked up his fishing rod, uncorked the hook and fished up a worm from the jar, threading it on the hook.

Luke didn't seem to notice though and threw the hook out over the water, settled down in the boat with a loose hold on the rod and watched the scenery.

"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"There are too many flying…things around here, and apparently most of them enjoy biting me," Jess answered, keeping his eyes from the still open jar of worms.

"You should feel honored."

"That I've got itching bite marks all over me?"

"That they apparently think your blood smells good."

"Oh great. At least if the world gets invaded by vampires, I'd be very popular."

"And probably dead."

"Thanks, that's very helpful."

"You're welcome," Luke said and almost smiled for the first time in two days.

Jess sighed and waved ineffectually after another flying intruder before opening one of the backpacks and taking out a sweatshirt. He sighed and pulled it over his head, already knowing how warm he'd be in just minutes.

Then he pulled out his book and sat down to read.

* * *

An hour or so later he had gotten enough of Luke hassling him about reading instead of fishing and reluctantly put the book away. He sat still for a while, watching Luke who sat at the other end of the boat and watched the little white floaty thing intently. Then he unhooked the line and put his rod over the edge of the boat and went back to reading.

"Aren't you gonna watch it?" Luke asked a while later, once again interrupting him.

"Nope," he said, continuing to read.

"What if something bites?"

"It won't."

"What?" Luke asked, clearly confused and he sighed, lowering the book once again.

"Well, there's no hook on the line, and even if there were there's no way I'd voluntarily put a worm on it."

"So why did you put it out?"

"Because I couldn't read with you nagging at me all the time."

"You don't want to catch a fish?"

"No. Definitely not."

"Why not?"

"Because fish is something you go and buy in the store, in neat little packages. That way you don't have to do all this crazy stuff like sitting in a boat a whole day watching a little ball float on the water."

"So you're just gonna sit there and read the whole day?"

"Uh, yeah."

He could feel Luke's eyes on him as he turned his attention back to the book, but he didn't say anything.

* * *

Jess only had a couple pages left when Luke made a jolt that shook the boat and startled him enough to almost drop his book.

"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled, steadying himself by holding on to the railing of the boat.

"Fishing."

"That usually the same as almost capsizing the boat?"

"Don't be so dramatic," Luke scoffed, continuing to roll the line in.

Jess glared at him, but he didn't notice, too occupied with what he was doing.

"You could make yourself useful and help me catch this fish."

"Uh, no way."

"What?"

"Another perk with getting your fish at the store is that you can just dump it right into the pan without actually having to touch it."

"When did you get so queasy?"

"I didn't get anything."

"Huh."

"I just don't like touching smelly and slimy things, ok."

"And that should come from the guy who used half a jar of gel in his hair," Luke said amused.

"I did not," Jess protested indignantly.

"Oh, you did." Luke smiled at him before turning back to winding the fish in.

"Shut up." Jess glared and demonstratively turned away and opened his book back up.

Jess studiously ignored Luke's chuckles and kept reading. By the time he finished Luke was once again watching the white ball floating on the water. He quickly scanned the boat for any sign of the fish, but didn't find any.

"What happened to the fish?" he asked.

"I let it go."

"Huh?"

"No need in keeping it. I packed food from the diner."

Jess stared at Luke. "So why are we here then?"

"I like it here."

"Huh."

"Just read your book."

"I finished it," Jess shrugged.

"So start one of the others."

"How did you know I packed more than one book?" Jess asked suspiciously.

"Please," Luke scoffed. "The way you were staring at those books before we left? No way you were just gonna take one of them."

"Huh."

"Would you stop saying that and start reading already?"

"Aye, aye Captain," Jess saluted him and pulled out another book from his backpack.

Luke just glared and shook his head and they continued sitting in silence.

* * *

"I screwed up," Luke suddenly said and Jess froze.

"What?"

"Lorelai asked me to elope, and I said I needed to think about it."

"That's…"

"Stupid?" Luke asked, looking up briefly.

Jess looked at him for a second and then gave a small nod.

"I know," Luke agreed with a sigh.

"Then why…?" Jess trailed off with a small gesture of his hand.

"She gave me an ultimatum; now or never."

"Oh, geez."

"I panicked."

Jess nodded again, this time more to himself. "Yeah well, I know that feeling," he mumbled.

"What?

"Uh, nothing."

Luke stared at him for a second, but didn't ask again and they both grew quiet.

"She went to Christopher," Luke suddenly said, breaking the silence once again.

"She what?" Jess stared at his uncle in utter disbelief.

Luke just nodded, looking down at his hands.

"You want to…? Jess started, but didn't finish.

Luke looked up briefly, but then shook his head, looking down again and Jess nodded to himself.

"She came to tell me the day after," Luke said, almost inaudibly.

Jess looked up, eyeing him carefully, but didn't say anything.

"She was crying and rambling and I just stood there, too stunned to react. I couldn't get a single word out and then she left."

Jess opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, realizing he had no idea what to say.

"I still don't know what to think. Or feel."

Luke took a deep breath and looked up. "I want to forgive her, but I don't know if I can," he finished, looking down again.

"You should talk to her," Jess said carefully.

"I can't…" Luke started protesting.

"You can, you just have to do it."

"It's not that easy…"

"It is if you want to."

Luke sighed and shook his head a little.

"Look, if you don't talk to her you'll just walk around miserable and then you're gonna regret it and that'll be even worse."

Luke glanced at him and looked to be about to say something.

"Trust me, I know, ok."

Luke just nodded and they sat in silence, looking out over the water.

"You still haven't talked to Rory?" Luke suddenly asked.

Jess snapped his head around, staring at him for a second and then he looked back out over the lake and shook his head.

"You never told me what happened after I left."

"There's nothing…" Jess began, but Luke cut him off.

"Don't tell me nothing happened. I know very well something did."

"Not much to tell."

Luke looked at him expectantly and Jess looked down, shrugging.

"We talked, I kissed her, she kissed me back, she freaked out, told me the idiot she's dating cheated on her, but she loved him none the less and then she left."

"Jess…"

"I know. I'm an idiot, I should learn some day, right?"

"Well…"

Jess sighed and shook his head. "I don't even know if it's still her or just my memory of her.

"You should…"

"Figure it out?"

"Yeah."

"I know. It's just not that easy. And sometimes I'm not really sure if I want to find out."

Luke nodded thoughtfully and looked out over the lake. "What do you say we get back to land, eat some dinner and go back to Stars Hollow?"

Jess stared for a second, but then nodded and moved to the middle of the boat. "Great. Let's go," he said and started rowing.


	4. Part 4

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. From this part and forward it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 4**

* * *

Jess pressed the on button on his phone and sank back down in the couch. "You talk to her yet?"

"How…?" came Luke's confused voice over the phone.

"Oh, the wonders of technology," Jess said with a small chuckle. "You talk to her yet?"

"Well…"

"What? You're not sure if you talked?"

"There was a conversation," Luke said, still sounding uncertain.

"And…" Jess prodded, reaching for the stereo remote and turning down the music.

"Well, we talked for about ten minutes about salmon," Luke stated.

"Huh?" Jess sat up again, frowning.

"Yeah, I never knew there was so much to say about salmon."

"So you talked about salmon?" Jess asked puzzled. "Then what?"

Luke sighed on the phone. "Then she got this weird expression on her face and ran out."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of that," Luke said, sounding tired.

"Don't ask me what's going on in her head. Most of the time it's a complete mystery."

"As to everyone else," Luke said with a humorless chuckle.

"You ok?" Jess asked.

"Well, no," Luke admitted. "But that's not why I called."

Jess tensed, an annoyed look on his face. "Oh, it's not?"

"No, it's not," Luke confirmed. "And you know very well why I'm calling."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Jess."

"Luke."

Luke scoffed. "Liz told me you're not coming here on Saturday."

"Yeah well, I don't see the point," Jess said, toying with the stereo remote.

"It's your birthday Jess."

"Yes," Jess agreed, "keyword being mine."

"Liz just wants to celebrate."

"I know, and I don't."

"But..."

Jess stilled and took a deep breath. "Look, I'm really not that fond of driving three hours to spend a day in Stars Hollow and then drive back home again."

"You could always stay for a couple days," Luke suggested, almost hopefully.

"I do have a job you know."

"Well, we could come to you."

"No."

"But..."

"I said no."

"Why not?"

"Because it will just be Liz trying to make up for all the times she forgot it while I was growing up and I can think of far better ways to spend the day."

"I'm sure..."

Jess sighed. "Look, it's a stupid tradition anyway."

"It's not stupid."

"Yeah, and that's why you do everything you can to avoid yours?"

"I don't avoid it," Luke protested.

"Oh yeah?" Jess said amused. "So last year you just happened to have to personally visit a supplier in New York, a town which everyone knows you hate?"

"Well, I um...needed to go over some stuff with him."

"Oh, right," Jess chuckled, "stuff."

"Yeah, it was really important."

"Ok, what was this stuff about?"

"It was...about the...um..." Luke trailed off.

Jess shook his head and smirked. "Oh, that stuff."

"Hey, this isn't about me."

Jess shook his head again. "I don't want a birthday party Luke. End of story."

"Not even…"

"No."

"Fine," Luke sighed. "What am I supposed to tell Liz?"

"You'll figure something out."

"You can't just leave me with this."

"Look, I'll call her, ok," Jess said, squeezing his eyes together. "I'll even talk to her on Saturday and let her congratulate me."

"Yeah, ok," Luke gave in.

Jess glanced at his watch and got up from the couch. "I've got to go. Work calls."

"Oh, ok. Yeah, I won't keep you."

"Yeah," Jess nodded. "Hey Luke, you should go talk to her again. Just make sure you pick another subject this time."

"Yeah, I will."

"Good luck," Jess said sincerely.

"Thanks."

"I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Yeah." And then Luke hung up.


	5. Part 5

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. The rest of the story is all my creation. This chapter has a couple hints at episode 6x18 but nothing major.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 5**

* * *

"Happy Birthday!" Luke's cheery voice greeted him when he opened the door.

Jess blinked once and then looked out the door, studying the sky. Then he turned back to Luke. "Huh."

"What?"

"Just checking for flying pigs," Jess said, a frown on his face. "Apparently there are none."

"I know that," Luke said, shaking his head and motioned inside. "You gonna invite me in?"

"Uh, yeah," Jess shook his head and took a step to the side, "come in."

"Huh, this place looks different."

"Told you it would." Jess closed the door, the frown still on his face.

"Yeah, you did," Luke nodded, looking around and taking in his surroundings, "I just didn't think it'd change this much."

"It's the art," Jess said, moving from his spot inside the door and walking over to the stairs.

"Oh, right," Luke said, walking further in. "Hey, that painting's gone."

"Yeah, someone bought it," Jess smirked.

"You sure?"

"Why, you want it?"

"Really funny."

"I could give you the name of the buyer if you want," Jess smirked, walking up to Luke.

"I think I'll survive."

"If you say so," Jess shrugged.

"So, umm…here," Luke said and reached out a plastic bag he had been holding.

"What's this?" Jess asked suspiciously.

"Look, I know you don't want any celebration, don't worry. It's the books you forgot when you were up last time."

"Oh," Jess said and took the bag.

"Yeah well, I thought you'd like them back."

"Thanks."

"So, you about to open up?" Luke said, gesturing around them.

"Yeah, in half an hour," Jess nodded. "I'm just gonna have some breakfast."

"You just got up?"

"Yeah," Jess shrugged, "so what?"

"You're getting lazy."

"Not everyone can be up with the sun."

"I like being up early."

Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "That's why you got in your car at six in the morning to come down here?"

"It wasn't six."

"Ok, with your driving it'd have to have been five thirty," Jess smirked.

"There's nothing wrong with my driving," Luke defended, glaring at him.

Jess laughed and shook his head. "Whatever you say."

Luke ignored him. "Besides, I had to get out of town early so I didn't run into Liz."

"Ok," Jess said, giving him a thankful nod and gestured up the stairs. "I'm gonna eat breakfast. You can come up if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"Oh right, the disaster zone," Luke nodded and followed him up the stairs. "I'm sure it can't be worse than that place you called an apartment in New York."

"Well, this one's got actual rooms," Jess said over his shoulder.

"Already a plus."

"And actual furniture," Jess added as he reached the top of the stairs. "Though most of them are obviously covered at the moment." He frowned.

"Covered?" Luke asked from behind him and then came up the last steps and stopped short. "Oh."

"Yeah, I forgot about that," Jess said, scratching his head.

"You forgot about it?" Luke asked astonished, staring at the room in front of him, every inch of it covered in piles of books.

"Well, I tried to forget about it," Jess said, shaking his head. "This is why I don't like birthdays."

"Now you completely lost me."

"Chris and Matt found out it's my birthday. They decided I needed new bookcases."

"That still doesn't explain what all these books are doing here."

"Well, they thought it would be a great idea to empty the existing bookcases and throw them away before they got the new ones."

"Huh."

"Exactly," Jess agreed and sighed before making his way over to the kitchen part of the room by sidestepping piles of books on the floor of the living room. "It's clear over here if you want to try it."

"Where are they now?" Luke asked with a skeptical look at the cramped floor between him and the kitchen.

"I sent them out to get bookcases," Jess said and started looking through the fridge. "Told them not to come back without any."

"Sounds risky," Luke replied and sighed before stepping over the nearest pile of books. "You've got way too many books by the way."

"There's no such thing," Jess protested with a smirk and retracted from the fridge with mayo and ham. "You want anything?"

"You got tea?"

"Sure, up there" Jess nodded to a cabinet. "Take your pick."

Luke nodded and went over to the cabinet after clearing the last book pile. "Wow," was all he said when he opened the door.

"What?" Jess asked from where he stood making sandwiches.

"Lorelai would flip if she saw this," Luke chuckled. "She thinks I'm bad and I've got three kinds of tea."

"Well, with three people drinking tea and everyone having different tastes it becomes a lot with time," Jess shrugged.

"But when do you have time to drink all this?" Luke asked, still staring. "There must be more than thirty different kinds in here."

"Thirty seven actually," Jess said and put the lid back on the mayo. "I'll boil water, give you some more time to stare," he smirked, ignoring the glare Luke sent his way.

Luke shook his head and then reached into the cabinet and took out the first container he reached. The label read blueberry/cream and he shook his head at the absurd combination. "This any good?" he asked, holding it up.

Jess strained to read the messy label from the other side of the kitchen and then shrugged. "Don't know; it's not mine."

"Might as well try this," Luke shrugged and closed the cabinet again.

"Tea-strainers are in that drawer," Jess said, pointing to his left and went to take out a tea container for himself.

"So, how long has it looked like this?" Luke asked, looking out over the sea of books.

"Just since last night," Jess shrugged and put two mugs on the kitchen table.

"They did all this last night?" Luke asked surprised. "How did you not notice?"

"Chris and Matt said they were having a party, I didn't want to be here for that, which I guess they counted on, 'cause they spent the night doing this," Jess said, motioning to the living room at the last part. "I spent the night catching up on reading in the park around the corner. When I got home this is what it looked like."

"And they already threw out the old bookcases?"

"Yeah," Jess confirmed. "Not that I'm extremely sad they're gone, 'cause they weren't that great, but it was better than this."

"Yeah, I'd have to agree on that one," Luke said and sat down at the table with his tea.

"Guess they didn't factor in the closing time for furniture stores in their plan," Jess said and joined him at the table.

"Well, apart from the book mess it looks good here."

"Yeah, it's not too bad."

"I'm serious," Luke said, looking at him. "You guys seem to be doing really good."

Jess just nodded and they both grew silent, drinking their tea and Jess eating his sandwiches. When he was done Jess looked at his watch and sighed a little.

"I should get down and open."

"Oh, yeah," Luke agreed, looking up. "Right, you do that. I'll take care of the dishes."

"No, you don't have to do that," Jess protested, stopping on his way to the sink with his mug and plate.

"It's no problem," Luke insisted. "Just look at it as my birthday present," he added with a grin.

Jess glared at him. "Fine," he grumbled and climbed over the books once more to get to the bathroom and brush his teeth before going downstairs again.

* * *

A while later Jess looked up from where he was sitting reading from a notebook as the stairs creaked.

"Hey," he said, putting the notebook down.

"It's quiet down here," Luke observed.

Jess shrugged. "Saturday morning."

"Yeah," Luke nodded, looking around. "Well, I should…"

"You could stay if you want," Jess interrupted.

"What about…" Luke half asked, motioning around them.

"It's no problem," Jess insisted and stood up. "Once Chris and Matt gets back I'm free for the day."

"Given they actually do come back."

Jess glared. "If they know what's good for them they will."

"Right," Luke chuckled. "What's that?" he asked then, pointing to the notebook.

"Um…nothing," Jess mumbled, picking it up again and putting it down in a desk drawer.

"Nothing, huh?" Luke said, eyeing him curiously. "That wouldn't happen to be…"

"It's nothing," Jess said sternly.

Luke narrowed his eyes a little, but let it go.

"You never told me how it went with Lorelai."

Luke shrugged, but smiled a little. "Good, I think. We actually talked. Nothing major, nothing solved, but it was better than the last time."

"Good," Jess said with a genuine smile.

"Yeah." Luke nodded to himself and looked like he was going to say something more when there came a loud crash and some yelling from outside.

They both whipped their heads around and then exchanged amused looks.

"If I'm not mistaken, we have company," Luke said, grimacing a little at the sounds.

"So it would seem," Jess agreed, chuckled to himself and looked up at Luke. "Should we help them?" he asked with a smirk.


	6. Part 6

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This is a really short snapshot, just 'cause I felt like it.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Love you guys. And many hugs to Knowhere. You're awsome.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 6**

* * *

"What?" Jess snapped into the phone

"Wow, aren't you just a ray of sunshine?"

Jess sighed. "Sorry."

"Something wrong?" Luke asked.

"Nah, just a lot of idiots calling in the last hour."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, this guy keeps calling, asking about all kinds of weird stuff, and someone who hangs up before I can even answer."

"Ok. So, everything's fine then?"

"Yeah, it's good," Jess confirmed. "Thinking about changing my phone number, but other than that, everything's good."

"Good."

"So, what did you want?"

"Well, nothing really, I just…"

"Well now, Uncle Luke," Jess chuckled, "were you gonna tell me you just wanted to hear my voice?"

"Oh yeah, you're just your old charming self."

"Sorry, too tempting to pass up."

"Yeah, I bet," Luke sighed.

"So, what's up?" Jess asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that I talked to Lorelai," Luke began. He hurriedly continued when he heard Jess start saying something on the other end. "I mean, actually talked."

"You mean…" Jess let the rest of the sentence hang in the air.

"Yeah, about everything," Luke confirmed.

"Oh."

They both went silent, neither sure how to continue after that.

"So, what now?" Jess asked, feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

"I don't know," Luke said, "We agreed to continue talking. I'm not sure what's gonna happen."

"You sound…I don't know…happier?" Jess said.

"Yeah," Luke simply stated.

"I'm glad," Jess said sincerely.

"Thanks."

Jess looked up and sighed. "Crap," he mumbled. "Hey Luke, I have to go. My author's here; gotta get back to work."

"Yeah, of course," Luke agreed. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, I'll call," Jess said, waving to the man who just walked in the door and hung up his phone.


	7. Part 7

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 7**

* * *

The bell above the door jingled and Luke looked up from the receipts he was going through, smiling when he saw Jess walk through the door.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," Jess nodded and closed the door behind him. "Things ok here?"

"Yeah, it was quiet today," Luke said, putting the receipts down and walked out from behind the counter.

"Ok," Jess said and dropped his bag.

They hugged briefly, Luke patting him on the back. "Good to see you," he said.

"Yeah, you too," Jess agreed with a smile when they let go.

"Trip go okay?" Luke asked, returning behind the counter.

"Mostly," Jess said and picked his bag up again, bringing it with him to the counter. "There had been some sort of accident on the highway just after New York; oil spill or something. Took about forty minutes to pass. Other than that it was fine."

"Ok," Luke nodded. "You want anything to eat?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah, I'll just go up with my stuff."

"Yeah, go on," Luke agreed. "I'll fix something up."

"Thanks," Jess said with a smile and went up the stairs.

Luke nodded and went out in the kitchen.

* * *

When Jess returned downstairs and stepped out in the diner form behind the counter he stopped, raising an eyebrow and looked questioningly at Luke.

"You don't think I eat enough, or what?" he asked.

"Huh?" Luke once again stood filing through the receipts and whipped his head around at the sound of Jess' voice.

"I ate before I left Philly you know," Jess said with a chuckle.

"It's a long trip," Luke shrugged.

"So you made me a mountain of food," Jess stated, shaking his head at the more than full plate standing on the counter. "I would've been fine with a sandwich."

"Yeah well, you never know," Luke shrugged again.

"Shame on you Uncle Luke," Jess smirked at him. "You're turning into a Gilmore."

Luke glared at him, but then shook his head and returned to his receipts. "Just eat your food."

Jess chuckled to himself, but sat down at the counter, pulled out his book and started eating some of the fries.

The diner turned silent again, Jess sitting at the counter, reading his book and absentmindedly eating, while Luke continued to go through the receipts.

"Thank you for doing this," Luke said after a while.

Jess looked up from his reading, shrugged and swallowed the last piece of his burger. "Sure."

"It's just with Caesar being sick…"

"It's fine," Jess interrupted him. "Really, I can spare a couple days. I have a lot of my vacation left anyway."

Luke nodded and put the last receipts away. He looked around the diner, checking that everything was done for the night.

"When're you picking Lorelai up tomorrow?" Jess asked, picking up another fry from the plate.

"We said around seven," Luke said, "which probably means half past."

"And you'll be there a quarter to, just in case," Jess smirked.

"I…"

"I'll open up," Jess chuckled.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Jess said and then smirked at him. "Just make sure you have a good trip."

"That's not…we're not…" Luke tried, looking embarrassed.

"Relax," Jess chuckled, shaking his head. "I know, you just want to get away from the prying eyes of this Godforsaken town."

"It's not that bad," Luke protested.

"Oh yeah, and that's why you're running away?" Jess raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"We're not running," Luke said uncomfortably. "We're just…"

"Getting some alone time where no one can follow your every move," Jess finished. "Oh no, you're not running," he smirked.

"So…guess you were hungry after all," Luke said, pointing to the now empty plate, abruptly changing the subject.

Jess chuckled. "Old habit," he shrugged, letting it go. "Can't see food go to waste."

Luke frowned a little at that, but Jess shrugged again and stood up.

"I think I'll go get some sleep if I'm gonna get up early tomorrow," he said. "Thanks for the food."

"Yeah, sure," Luke nodded and picked the plate up as Jess started towards the stairs.

Luke turned to the kitchen, but stopped with a grimace. "Jess, wait," he said a bit hesitantly, "there's something you should know."

Jess turned around. "What?"

"Well, um…Rory is in town for the weekend."

"Ok?" Jess said, trying to ignore the way the name made him stiffen.

"Yeah, Lorelai told me right before you got here. She's gonna take care of Paul Anka."

"Huh."

"I just thought I'd give you a heads up," Luke said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Thanks," Jess mumbled, stuffed the book back in his pocket and made his way up the stairs.

He paused at the top of the stairs and took a deep breath before walking over to the apartment and entering.

As he got ready for bed he wondered if tomorrow would bring the answers he needed, or if it would just give him more questions.


	8. Part 8

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This is a continuation of the last part, sort of, just a couple days later.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 8**

* * *

The diner was almost empty, with the few remaining patrons finishing their last bites and packing up their belongings. Jess stood behind the counter reading a book, resting his head on one of his hands, once in a while glancing up around the room.

The last customer came up to the counter and Jess straightened out, walking over to the cash register and took his money. He put the bills in the till, counting out the change and gave it to the man with a nod.

Then he returned to his book, reading the last paragraphs of the chapter before marking his page and setting the book aside to start cleaning out the diner.

He was wiping down the counter for the last time when the bell announced someone's arrival. He looked up and saw Luke enter and close the door.

"Hey," he said and finished up, putting the dish rag back in the kitchen.

"Hi," Luke said with a smile and brought his bag over to the counter, waiting for Jess to come back out. "Everything seems to be in order here," he said, looking around the diner.

"Damn. I knew there was something I forgot," Jess said, smacking his forehead. "I should've burned down the diner while you were away." He shook his head sadly.

"Oh, you're hilarious," Luke said and glared at him.

"I try," Jess smirked.

Luke glared some more, but then shook his head. "Everything done?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded, looking around one last time.

"Good," Luke said. "I'm going up."

"Yeah, I should finish packing and get on the road," Jess said, picking up his book and followed Luke up the stairs.

"You don't have to go tonight," Luke offered. "You could stay another night, go back tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, I've got a meeting early tomorrow. Don't want to be late in case of traffic."

"Right," Luke nodded as he entered the apartment.

"So, how was the trip?" Jess asked, walking over to his bed and started collecting his things.

"It was good," Luke said with a smile.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "Anything happen I don't want to know about?" he asked.

"No!" Luke exclaimed, staring at him.

"Huh." Jess smirked back.

"What?" Luke asked, frowning.

"Nothing," Jess shrugged, laughing to himself. "You seem awfully happy, that's all."

"There are other ways to get happy you know," Luke glared at him.

"And you seem very touchy on the subject," Jess observed casually.

"I'm not," Luke insisted, his frown still in place.

"Whatever you say," Jess smirked and threw down his shaving cream in the bag.

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Instead he shook his head and went over to the kitchen, brought out some juice and a glass and sat down on a chair at the table.

Jess continued packing, smiling to himself and ignoring Luke's glares.

The apartment was quiet for a couple minutes while Jess moved around collecting his things and Luke drank his juice.

"Everything ok here while I was gone?" Luke finally asked.

"Yeah," Jess shrugged and looked around for anything he had forgotten to pack. "Taylor wouldn't stop giving me suspicious looks."

"Well, that's nothing new," Luke smirked at him.

"Yeah," Jess agreed, "it almost made me want to give him a reason for it."

"Almost?" Luke asked, just a little bit apprehensive.

"I thought about short circuiting the stop light outside," Jess said thoughtfully and smirked when he saw Luke staring at him.

"You what?" Luke demanded.

"Relax," Jess chuckled, "I didn't do anything."

"Good." Luke gave him a stern look.

"Though it would've been fun," Jess pondered, zipping his bag up.

Luke continued to watch him sternly for a second, but couldn't help a smile from breaking out.

Jess smirked at him and nodded. "You see, it can be fun."

"Except I'd have Taylor invading my diner demanding compensation for the repairs."

"He'd never be able to prove anything," Jess shrugged.

"You think very highly of yourself," Luke said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Jess smirked at him, walking over to the kitchen and pulled out a pack of sandwiches from the fridge.

"So, nothing happened?" Luke asked.

"Nope," Jess shook his head.

"Nothing at all?"

"What're you getting at?" Jess asked a bit annoyed and walked back to his bag, putting the sandwiched in.

"Nothing, I just…"

Jess stopped. "Rory came in yesterday," he said, giving in.

"Oh," Luke said, eyeing him carefully. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," Jess assured him.

"You sure?"

"I didn't get a wild urge to kiss her if that's what you wanted to know."

"That's not…" Luke began, but changed his mind. "So, what happened?" he asked instead.

"She came in yesterday morning, we said hi, she asked for coffee, I poured it for her, we had some kind of awkward conversation, she left and then I didn't see her again."

"Oh."

Jess shrugged. "It's not like I came up here for her."

"No, but…"

"No buts," Jess stopped him. "It just is." He picked his bag up and shouldered it. "I should get going."

Luke nodded. "You sure you don't want to stay till tomorrow?"

"Luke, I'm fine." Jess said firmly.

"Ok," Luke gave in.

Jess nodded, smiling a little and walked up to him. They hugged briefly and Luke nodded back.

"Drive safely," Luke said.

Jess nodded again and opened the door, walking out of the apartment. He walked down the stairs and out to his car, opening the door. He paused outside it before throwing his bag in the backseat and getting in behind the wheel.

He sat there for a second, leaning his head against the back of the seat, his eyes closed. "Damnit," he muttered. Then he took a deep breath and started the car up, put on his seatbelt and drove out of town.

**A/N:** If you want to know more about Rory's visit; read my story _Still Visible_.


	9. Part 9

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 9**

* * *

Jess sat down in a chair by one of the desks, feeling exhausted. He closed his eyes for a second and then pulled out his phone, dialed a number and slumped down further in the chair, waiting for the call to go through.

"Yeah," came Luke's voice from the other end after three signals.

"Next time Liz decides to come visit here, you warn me," Jess demanded without introduction.

"Jess?" Luke asked, startled.

"No, Santa Claus," Jess retorted, irritated.

Luke rolled his eyes and chuckled, signaling to Caesar that he was going upstairs. "She came to see you, huh?" he said as he walked up the stairs, making it more of a statement than a question.

"She told me you knew she was coming."

"I didn't…" Luke began, but stopped at Jess' snort. "Ok," he relented, "I might have heard something about it."

"Great," Jess scoffed. "Thanks for the warning."

"I wasn't sure she'd go," Luke defended himself.

"Well, she did."

"So it seems," Luke agreed and paused for a second. "So…how did it go?" he asked curiously.

"She wanted to get me a rug for my room."

"And…" Luke wondered.

Jess frowned. "Have you seen their house?"

"Yeah…"

"Point made."

"Well, it's a bit…different," Luke finally settled on.

"Different?" Jess said baffled. "That's the understatement of a century."

"It's not that bad."

"Right," Jess scoffed.

"Ok, the colors are a bit…strange and the doll collection freaks me out," Luke admitted.

"Thank you."

"How did you convince her not to?" Luke asked, genuinely curious.

"That's classified information."

Luke chuckled. "Which basically means you threatened her."

"I…didn't threaten her," Jess halfheartedly protested. "Exactly." He grimaced.

Luke shook his head and let out a laugh. "Do I even want to know any more?"

Jess thought for a second. "No."

"Ok then, I won't ask."

"And if she tells you anything, I deny all involvement."

Luke chuckled to himself.

Jess let his eyes drift and caught sight of something green at the other end of the room. "She got me a plant," he said.

"Oh?" Luke said, trying not to laugh at the disgusted tone in Jess' voice. "What kind?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Well, what does it look like?"

"Green?" Jess asked, glancing at the plant again.

"That's very specific."

"Yeah," Jess agreed, "and completely irrelevant considering it'll be dead in less than a week."

"The plant already got its death sentence?" Luke asked amused.

"Yeah, it got stuck with me."

Luke chuckled. "My condolences to the plant then."

"I'm sure it appreciates them."

"You know she only means well," Luke said.

"Yeah," Jess sighed. "I just didn't remember it being this exhausting."

"You should get some practice then. Come and visit next weekend."

"I don't know Luke…" Jess said hesitantly.

"Last weekend you said you had vacation left. You haven't used that yet, have you?"

"You really want me to come up?"

"You left so quickly on Sunday that I never really got a chance to thank you for taking care of the diner for me."

"Luke, you already thanked me enough," Jess protested. "You really don't have to do it again."

"I know, but I want to." Luke sighed. "For that and for pushing me to talk to Lorelai."

"Luke…"

"No, I want to," Luke repeated. "I'll even let you cut down the traffic light."

"You bribing me?" Jess chuckled.

"I…"

"I can come up for a while if you want," Jess said with a shrug. "But I can't before the middle of next week."

"That works too," Luke said and smiled. "So, how've you been?"

Jess chuckled to himself. "I've been good." Then he frowned a little. "How did the talk with Anna go? That was yesterday, right?"

"I'm not sure," Luke frowned. "Good…I think."

"That's good," Jess said a bit hesitantly.

"I'm not sure if I understood exactly what she said."

"From what I hear she has some strange ideas," Jess remarked.

"Yeah," Luke agreed with a sigh. "And the latest events didn't exactly help the situation."

"It'll work out," Jess assured him.

"I hope so," Luke said and took a deep breath. "But enough about that now. I should get back to work."

"Yeah, you do that. Dinner rush's about to start, right?"

"Yeah," Luke smiled. "I probably shouldn't leave Caesar alone with it."

"Nah, probably not," Jess agreed with a short chuckle.

"Let me know when you're coming up," Luke said.

"Yeah, I will."

"Good."

"Bye Luke," Jess said with a smile and hung up the phone.


	10. Part 10

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. Once again a really short one, taking place the day after the last one.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 10**

* * *

"Hey, Uncle Luke," Jess said as answer to Luke's greeting.

"You're calling soon," Luke remarked.

"Yeah, we did the schedule for the next couple of weeks tonight. I'm free for a week, starting two weeks from now. Thought I'd come up and visit then."

"Sounds good," Luke said with a smile.

"Yeah, Liz already started planning the big family dinner," Jess chuckled.

"You already talked to her?" Luke asked, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, she called," Jess said with a small laugh. "She wanted to make sure I didn't want that rug. Said she couldn't understand how I could refuse it."

"You never told me what it looked like."

"You don't want to know."

"That bad?" Luke frowned.

Jess grimaced. "Worse."

"Ok, I take your word for it."

"Good choice."

"So, you coming up then?"

"Yeah, thought I'd drive up on Saturday, stay a couple days. Not sure how long yet."

"Stay as long as you want."

"Yeah, we'll see how long I manage."

Luke gave a short laugh, but then frowned, thinking of something. "I was actually gonna call you later," he said, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

Jess narrowed his eyes. "Oh…"

Luke hesitated. "Um…Rory came by the diner earlier today."

Jess breathed in sharply, and then tried to cover it up with a mumbled, "Huh."

"Yeah, I'm… She was looking around in the diner, as if searching for something."

"Huh," Jess repeated, narrowing his eyes a little.

"I'm not sure, because she didn't tell me anything, but I think she was looking for you."

"Huh," Jess said for a third time.

"Jess?" Luke asked when he hadn't said anything else for a while.

"Yeah," Jess sighed. "Why would she be looking for me?" He frowned. "And in Stars Hollow of all places?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, it's not like she doesn't know where to find me."

"I don't know, "Luke said again. "I just thought you might want to know."

"Yeah…thanks," Jess said and took a deep breath. "I'll talk to you later, ok?"

"Jess…?"

"I'm fine," Jess insisted. "I just…"

"Yeah, ok." Luke nodded to himself. "Talk to you later."

"Bye," Jess mumbled and hung up his phone, staring at it for a second.


	11. Part 11

**This Crazy World**

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This is two weeks after the last part.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

**Part 1****1**

Luke walked into the diner to find Jess sitting at the counter, a plate of fries in front of him, reading a book. He smiled a little at the familiar sight and closed the door behind him, walking around the counter.

"Still set on an early death?" Luke asked.

Jess looked up and smirked. "Always."

Luke shook his head. "Some vegetables wouldn't hurt you, you know."

"You know what people always forget when they proclaim new ways to prolong your life?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow and marking the page in his book.

"What?"

"That those years are added to the end of your life," Jess said, picking up a fry and motioning with it in his hand as he continued. "If someone came up with a way of adding them when you can still enjoy them I'd start bothering." With a grin he ate the fry.

"And there's that positive attitude I've been missing," Luke said with a scoff.

Jess smirked, grabbing another fry. "And I eat vegetables," he said, pointing at Luke with the fry. "I don't know if you know this, but before this was a fry," he continued before biting off half of it, "it was part of a potato."

"I never understood why you and Lorelai never got along," Luke said, shaking his head. "You're so much alike."

"And there is your problem," Jess said.

Luke frowned. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Sure it does," Jess smirked. "How is Lorelai?"

"She's good."

"She knows I'm here?"

"Well, I didn't know that till two minutes ago," Luke said. "But she knows you were coming."

"Ok."

"What?"

"Nothing," Jess shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Ok," Luke nodded. "So, dinner at Liz's tomorrow?"

"Did you have to remind me?"

"Jess…"

"What?" Jess asked, putting on innocent look.

"Be nice."

Jess smirked. "I'm always nice, Uncle Luke."

Luke glared at him, but then shook his head with a small smile tugging at his lips. "You better be tomorrow."

"I promise I won't try to confuse T.J.," Jess nodded solemnly. "But you can't blame me if he does it himself," he added with a grin.

Luke just shook his head with a short chuckle. "How've you been?" he asked, giving up on the subject.

"Fine," Jess shrugged.

Luke nodded. "I haven't talked to you in a while."

Jess shrugged again. "Yeah, I've been busy. For some reason the middle of the summer brings a lot of people."

"So it's not…" Luke started.

"No," Jess quickly interrupted him.

"Ok?" Luke nodded, a small frown on his face.

Jess sighed. "Maybe," he said quietly, slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh."

"I don't know," Jess shrugged. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok," Luke said with a nod and dropped it. "So, you got set up?"

Jess nodded. "Brought my stuff up."

"Good, sorry you had to wait."

"Nah, it's ok," Jess shrugged. "Gave me time for some reading."

"Worked out well then."

"Yup," Jess agreed. "So, what was the emergency?"

"Emergency?"

Jess smirked at Luke's confused expression. "Caesar said something about an emergency at the Inn when I got here. I take it from your reaction that it wasn't exactly an emergency."

Luke laughed and shook his head. "Well, unless you call a creaking door an emergency, I'd say you were right."

"A creaking door?" Jess asked with an amused smile. "You sure it wasn't just an excuse?"

"An excuse for…" Luke began and then glared at him. "Jess, I…"

"What, Uncle Luke?" Jess grinned. "I was just asking."

"Why did I ask you to come here, again?" Luke asked with a sigh.

Jess' grin broadened. "Beats me."

Luke glared. "I'm gonna go unpack the new shipment," he said and started for the storage room.

"Ok," Jess said with a nod, watching him with a smirk in place.

At the end of the counter Luke stopped and turned around. "It's good to see you," he said.

"You too," Jess said.

Luke nodded and then he continued on his way.


	12. Part 12

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This picks up the day after last chapter.

A big hug for Knowhere.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 1****2**

* * *

"Well, that was…interesting," Luke said once the door was closed behind them.

Jess leaned back against it. "That's one way to put it," he nodded slowly.

"Damn, how much stuff do they think a kid really needs?" Luke asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well, according to their parenting book, a whole lot of it," Jess answered with a scoff.

"I don't even know what half of it was."

"I think you should be thankful for that."

"You're probably right," Luke nodded and started down the stairs.

Jess pushed himself off the door and followed him down the stairs and out on the street.

"And what's with the names?" Luke asked with a frown a few houses later.

"Yeah, they were kinda original."

"Well, Desdemona wasn't that bad," Luke suggested.

"Personally I wouldn't name my kid after a character who marries her brother, but that might be just me," Jess shrugged.

"Well, in this case you'd be the brother," Luke smirked.

Jess gave him a disturbed glare. "At least I'm not Greek," he muttered.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Luke asked with a frown.

"Desdemona was Greek," Jess shrugged.

Luke nodded to himself. "Italy isn't that far from Greece," he reflected.

"Are you trying to creep me out here?" Jess asked with a scowl. "And besides, a last name doesn't make you Italian."

"Well, the name isn't exactly unfitting," Luke shrugged, glancing at him.

"Which is another mystery," Jess nodded.

"We seem to be collecting those tonight."

"Sure does seem that way," Jess agreed.

"You don't know where it came from?" Luke asked with a small frown.

"What?" Jess looked up at him. "The name?"

Luke nodded.

"Nope," Jess said and shook his head.

"Jimmy never told you anything about his parents?"

Jess shook his head again. "And I never asked."

Luke nodded. "I never met them, they weren't at the wedding. For all I know they were already dead."

Jess shrugged and they both went silent.

After a while Luke glanced over at Jess who walked silently beside him, hands deep in his pockets.

"You don't think they were actually serious about calling the kid Cinnamon?" he asked with a shudder.

Jess snapped his head up in surprise. "God, I hope not," he grimaced.

"I think Babbette had a cat with that name a couple years ago," Luke said, frowning.

"And that information was supposed to make it better?"

"No," Luke shook his head. "Just remembered it."

Jess nodded slowly. "There's still time."

"We can always hope they come up with something better in the next 6 months," Luke agreed.

"And Liz has a history of last minute decisions, so you never know."

"How so?" Luke asked.

"When I was nine she told me she had wanted to call me Arrow," Jess said and shook his head at the memory.

Luke gave him a disturbed look. "She did?"

"Yeah, apparently there was a lot of the 'happy green stuff' involved," Jess chuckled, using air quotes. "It took me another two years to figure out what she meant by that."

"How come she didn't?" Luke asked, frowning at the last part.

Jess shrugged. "When the nurse asked her what she wanted to name me, she couldn't remember it. And considering the alternative I'm kinda happy with the one I got. I thought about looking up the nurse and thanking her, but Liz couldn't remember what hospital she'd been at, so I didn't get that far."

"St. Vincent's," Luke said slowly and thought for a while. "The nurse was kinda scary. She reminded me a little too much of a female Taylor."

Jess stopped. "How do you know that?"

Luke stopped a few feet further down the street. "I was there," he said.

"Huh."

"Well," Luke began, looking a little uncomfortable. "I was out in the hallway all the time, feeling sick, but yeah, I was there."

Jess frowned. "I didn't know that." He started walking again, catching up to Luke.

"I thought Liz would've told you."

"We never really talked," Jess shrugged.

Luke nodded to himself and again they walked in silence. They reached the diner and Luke unlocked the door, letting them both in.

"I should have been there more often," Luke said as he closed the door again.

"What?" Jess asked, stopping on his way over to the stairs.

"I tried in the beginning, but New York isn't exactly nearby and then dad died and everything with the store and Liz changed her last name so many times I just couldn't keep up."

Before he got any further Jess interrupted. "It wasn't your job to look after us."

"But I could have tried more."

"You probably wouldn't have been able to do anything anyways," Jess shrugged and leaned against the counter. "Liz didn't want help back then and I didn't know any better."

Luke nodded at the dismissive tone in Jess' voice and let it drop, walking up to the counter.

"You want anything to eat?" he asked.

"After the dinner Liz made us eat?" Jess asked skeptically.

"Right."

"You may be used to Lorelai, but I'm certainly no bottomless pit."

Luke chuckled and checked his watch. "Speaking of. I should call Lorelai."

"Right," Jess nodded. "You never said what that phone call was about."

"I didn't?"

Jess shook his head. "Nope."

"Huh, I thought I did." He shook his head.

"But your reaction when the phone rang was priceless," Jess smirked.

Luke glared. "I thought I'd left the phone here," he defended himself.

"Yeah, sure," Jess said with a chuckle.

Luke glared some more, but then shook his head. "One of the horses at the Inn wasn't feeling too good, so Lorelai called in a vet and she said she'd stay till they knew what was wrong. Just thought I'd see how it's going."

"And to see if she wants any coffee," Jess smirked.

"She has coffee there."

"You can go over there you know," Jess said, ignoring Luke's comment.

"I don't…"

"Luke, it's fine," Jess chuckled. "I need some real music after this night and I don't think you'd appreciate it."

"If this is the same noise you called music four yeas ago, then you're right," Luke agreed.

"Noise, huh?" Jess smirked. "I seem to recall Lorelai finding a Jimmy Buffet shirt in your closet…" He trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

Luke glared. "Fine."

Jess just kept smirking.

"Ok, I'm going," Luke sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jess smirked and waved as Luke opened the door.

"The horse's name is Desdemona, by the way," Luke said on his way out.

"Figures," Jess said, shaking his head and went over to lock the door before heading upstairs.


	13. Part 13

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This one starts up a couple days after the last part.

I hope this can at least partly make up for the lack of updates in the past months.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 13**

* * *

"OK, that's it," Jess muttered when he entered the kitchen, hands full of plates from the diner, and once again found Luke avoiding eye contact.

"What're you talking about?" Luke asked, checking the order pads hanging on the wall, for a moment meeting Jess' eyes, but quickly looked away.

"You," Jess said annoyed. "Just tell me whatever it is and get it over with."

Luke turned back to the stove, putting a couple burgers on it. "There's nothing to tell," he said.

"Yeah, right," Jess scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're acting all antsy and have been avoiding me all day," Jess pointed out. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out something's up."

"Antsy?" Luke inquired, avoiding the subject.

Jess glared at him and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nervous, jumpy, tense, edgy, whatever, pick one. Just spit it out, damnit."

Luke looked over at him. "Lorelai invited us for dinner tonight," he finally got out.

"Huh." Jess' angry expression quickly turned to disbelief, and he stared skeptically at Luke. "As in you and me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Luke confirmed.

"Huh," Jess muttered once again leaning back against the bench, a frown on his face.

"Yeah," Luke repeated, not sure what to say.

"Are you sure she meant both of us?" Jess finally asked.

Luke looked at him strangely. "Of course I'm sure."

"Just checking," Jess said and shrugged. "She's not exactly my biggest fan."

"Things change," Luke said simply.

"Apparently," Jess nodded, spotting a customer coming up to the counter and sighed, pushing himself off the bench and walked out in the diner.

Luke watched him leave, but didn't say anything and turned back to the burgers.

The customer paid and Jess went out to get his empty plate and glass, returning both to the kitchen. "So, what did you tell her?" he asked after disposing of them in the sink.

"Tell who?" Luke asked distractedly, assembling the burgers.

"Lorelai," Jess clarified, "about tonight."

"Oh, right," Luke muttered. "I said I'd ask you and get back to her," he said and finished the burgers.

Jess relaxed a little. "Ok," he nodded and waited while Luke poured fries on the side of the plates before picking them up and carrying them out in the diner.

"So…?" Luke asked, looking up from rinsing the dishes when he returned again, after a round of filling coffees.

Jess sighed. "I can think of a lot of reasons not to go," he said.

Luke narrowed his eyes at him. "So you're coming?"

Jess sighed again and stuffed his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans. "Yeah."

"Ok," Luke nodded, smiling.

The bell announced another customer and Jess nodded briefly before heading back out in the diner. Luke kept smiling after him, chuckling to himself and turned back to the dishes.

"Another burger with chili fries," Jess announced when he returned not long after.

Luke nodded and started up a new load of fries, grabbing a new burger from the fridge.

Jess watched him for a moment and frowned. "She's not cooking, is she?"

"No," Luke chuckled. "The invitation included a request to bring food."

Jess shook his head. "So basically she invited herself to dinner?" he said amused.

"Pretty much, yeah," Luke agreed, smiling.

"Well, at least there'll be eatable food," Jess remarked.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Luke assured him.

Jess scoffed and shook his head. "She's only had two years to think up even more painful ways to kill me."

Luke gave him an annoyed glare. "A lot of things have happened during those years," he said. "I don't think that's been one of her highest priorities."

"Yeah," Jess relented with a sigh. "Old habits are hard to break I guess."

Luke watched him for a moment, turning the burger on the stove. "I think she wants to thank you," he finally said.

"Huh." Jess looked up at him with a frown. "Thank me?" he asked, doubtfully.

"Yeah," Luke nodded.

"For what?"

"For making me talk to her," Luke said a little uncomfortably.

Jess stared at him. "You told her about that?"

Luke nodded again.

"Huh," Jess muttered and shook his head. "This should prove to be an interesting night."

"Yeah," Luke agreed, took out the bread and started preparing the burger while Jess once more went out in the diner when a new customer arrived.

* * *

**A/N:** If you want to know more about what happened between Jess and Rory that night; read my story _Still Wondering_.


	14. Part 14

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. This one takes place later the same day, or rather night, as the last part.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 14**

* * *

Jess entered the apartment and stopped right inside the door, leaning against it and let his weight close it with a muted thud that resounded surprisingly loud through the quiet apartment.

"Whoa," came a surprised response from around the corner of the apartment.

Jess froze. "Crap," he muttered under his breath and closed his eyes.

Some shuffling could be heard through the apartment and then a tired looking Luke appeared. "That you Jess?" he asked, a frown on his face.

"Yeah," Jess confirmed. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I thought you'd still be at Lorelai's, and it was dark up here…" He trailed off with a shrug.

"Rory showed up," Luke said slowly. "She seemed upset, so I thought it best to give them some space."

"Right," Jess muttered, stalking over to the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge and quickly uncapped it, taking a big gulp.

"You ok?" Luke asked, watching him concerned.

"Just peachy."

"I can see that," Luke scoffed.

"I'm fine," Jess insisted and downed the rest of the beer. "I'm going to bed," he added, setting the bottle down on the counter a little more forcefully than necessary.

Luke watched as he stalked over to his bed and kicked off his shoes before lying down fully clothed on the bed, and something dawned on him. "Oh," he mumbled.

"What?" Jess snapped.

"You ran into Rory, didn't you?" Luke asked carefully.

Jess didn't say anything, but visibly stiffened where he lay, and Luke sighed.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked, walking through the kitchen and rounded the fridge.

"Not really," Jess sighed.

Luke watched him silently for a while, waiting to see if he changed his mind, and finally nodded. "Ok, good night then," he said, hesitating before turning around.

"Luke?" Jess called just as Luke was starting on his way back and sat up on the bed.

"Yeah," Luke called back, turning around once again.

Jess looked up and hesitated before he spoke. "Did she say anything before you left?"

"No, not really," Luke said slowly. "Why?"

Jess shook his head. "Nothing," he mumbled, "just wondering."

Luke frowned and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs, sitting down. "Something happen?"

Jess contemplated telling him a slightly edited version of their meeting, but decided against it. He didn't even know himself what had really happened. "No," he said instead, "we didn't even talk."

"Ok," Luke nodded, leaning back on his chair in silence, waiting to see if there was anything else.

"I think I might have figured it out," Jess said quietly, staring down at the floor.

Luke gave him a puzzled look. "Figured what out?"

With a shrug Jess looked up at him briefly, giving him a cynical smile.

"Oh," Luke mumbled, remembering their conversation in the boat.

"Yeah," Jess muttered. "Didn't exactly make things easier."

Luke just nodded, watched him with a concerned wrinkle on his forehead. There wasn't really anything to say.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes until Jess finally let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm going out," he said, getting up from the bed and put his shoes back on.

Luke looked over at him with a frown. "But you were just out."

"I need some air, I just…" Jess cut himself off. "I'm leaving when I get back."

"Oh." Luke's frown deepened.

Jess sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry to cut this visit short," he said awkwardly. "I just have to think, and I can't do that here. Not with…" He trailed off with a vague gesture out the window.

"Yeah," Luke said slowly, standing up. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Jess nodded and left the apartment, closing the door behind him quietly before slowly descending the stairs.

He walked aimlessly through town, letting the now chilly air clear his mind and eventually found himself back at the town square. He stood by the gazebo for a couple minutes, looking back at the dark diner and the glaring red traffic light outside. Then he smirked to himself and crossed the street.

When Luke woke up in the morning Jess was gone, together with all of his things, the only thing left of him a short message hastily scribbled on an old envelope lying on the kitchen table.

**A/N:** If you want to know more about what happened between Jess and Rory that night; read my story _Still Wondering_.


	15. Part 15

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation. Just as the previous part, this one takes place just hours after the last one. Oh, and the music is from Metallica's album _St. Anger_.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 15**

* * *

Jess drove past the state line, into Pennsylvania, finally seeing an end to this trip. Just then the rain that had started an hour ago picked up even more, making it impossible to see further than a hundred feet in front of the car. And that's when his cell phone decided to ring.

He sighed as the signal pierced through his music, clashing with the cords of _Frantic_. The sound was a bit muffled, coming from inside his backpack, but still annoying. He continued driving; hoping whoever it was would get the message and after six signals it stopped ringing.

Thirty seconds later it started again. He glared at his backpack in the rearview mirror and cursed whoever it was who was calling at this hour and searched the road for a place to stop, finding an empty bus stop and pulled over to the side of the road.

He left the engine running, remembering the fuse for the parking lights blew a week ago, and unbuckled his seat belt, reaching back for his bag. He answered on the sixth ring.

"This better be important," he growled into the phone as he turned the stereo down.

"Took you long enough," Luke said accusingly.

"Yes," Jess agreed, relaxing back in his seat. He hadn't expected Luke to call quite this soon. "It's dark, it's raining, and I don't particularly feel like crashing into a tree while looking for my annoying phone."

"Oh." Some of the anger ran out of Luke, but he could still hear Taylor's irritating voice in his head.

"So, I'm parked now," Jess said. "What did you want?"

"Taylor was just here," Luke informed him.

"He comes in almost every day," Jess said pointedly.

"Yes, he does," Luke agreed. "But it's not every day he comes in and accuses me of causing a traffic accident."

"Huh, how'd you do that?" Jess asked.

"I didn't do anything," Luke said sharply. "You did."

"Hmm…" Jess said slowly, "I'd say parking at the side of the road to answer your phone was the exact opposite."

"Jess!"

"What?"

Luke sighed in frustration. "You switched the lights on the traffic light!"

"I did?" Jess asked, feigning innocence.

Luke took a deep breath, trying to calm down again. "You could've killed someone," he finally said.

"What?" Jess asked with a small chuckle. "I didn't even shut it off. I just changed the glass in two of the lights."

"I know," Luke stated. "People have been staring at it for the last half hour, not knowing what to do."

"Huh," Jess said and smiled to himself.

"Could you be serious for just a second?"

"I…" Jess thought it over. "No, I don't think so."

"You know what the worst part is?" Luke asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Now they're all out there, blocking the entrance to the diner, arguing about what to do about it."

"What's there to argue about?" Jess wondered, truly curious.

Luke shook his head and watched the group outside the diner, sending them a glare every once in a while. "Taylor is bringing a repair guy, but he doesn't come until this afternoon."

"A repair guy?" Jess asked, not able to keep in his laugh. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

Jess smiled to himself. "This turned out so much better than I ever thought it would."

"Better?" Luke asked astonished. "You have any idea what could have happened?"

"Relax," Jess scoffed. "The town was fine before the light was even there."

"I know that," Luke agreed. "But people apparently can't think for themselves any more now that it's there."

"Did they consider just switching the glasses back?" Jess asked. "It wasn't exactly hard to do. They could even turn off the power."

"I don't think they've gotten that far yet," Luke muttered, sending an angry glare out the door. "They're still arguing about whose fault it is."

"Huh." Jess smirked. "I thought they'd already decided it was me."

"Um, well…" Luke hesitated.

Jess' smirk widened. "What?"

"Well," Luke mumbled. "I kinda told them you left last night."

And Jess could no longer stop himself from laughing. "You did what?" he got out, shaking his head in amusement.

Luke sighed. "I told them you left early last night, and that the traffic light was working then."

"Uncle Luke!" Jess exclaimed, faking horror. "Are you lying to the town for me?"

"Well, technically I didn't know it was you until just recently," Luke tried.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Jess said, still chuckling.

"So…why did you do it?" Luke asked then, changing the subject.

Jess stopped laughing instantly and rubbed a hand over his face. "Figured actually cutting it down would be a bit too noisy."

"Come on," Luke prodded. "We both know that's not it."

"I should get back on the road," Jess muttered, avoiding the question.

In the diner Luke frowned. "The least you could do after I covered for you is tell me why you did it."

"Look, you practically bribed me with that traffic light to come up for this visit," Jess said. "I just cashed in."

"Cashed in, huh?" Luke asked slowly, sounding far from convinced.

"Yeah," Jess maintained.

Luke sighed. "Ok," he said, letting it go. "So, you almost home?"

Jess nodded slowly. "Yeah, just about."

"Ok."

"Yeah, I should get going…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, sure."

"Have fun with Taylor," Jess smirked.

"Thanks," Luke muttered.

Jess chuckled. "Bye."

Luke muttered a bye and Jess hung up his phone, tossing it onto the passenger seat. Taking a deep breath he leaned his head back against the seat for a moment. Then he sighed and checked his rearview mirror before getting back onto the road for the last part of the trip.

After a minute he raised the volume of the stereo again, letting the end of _St. Anger_ drown out his thoughts, and concentrated on the road.


	16. Part 16

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)

It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.

* * *

**Part 16**

* * *

Jess was chewing on his pencil, a bad habit he had taken up somewhere during his many trips across the country. Mostly he didn't even notice it anymore, that is, until he bit a little too hard and the pencil broke.

As if waking up, he sat up quickly on the bed, shook his head and spit out the stump. It landed with a soft thud among the others at the bottom of the waste basket and he sighed, laid back down, closed his eyes and absentmindedly drummed his fingers on the still empty page in his notebook.

A moment later he opened his eyes again and grabbed the pencil, or what was left of it, giving it a disapproving glare before letting it join the rest of its pieces in the waste basket. It wouldn't be of any use anyway unless he learned to write with just two fingers.

Until an hour ago he had been writing furiously, trying to keep up with his mind, the ideas forming faster than he could process them. And then suddenly when he turned another page they had just stopped.

Since then he had gone through three pencils.

Jess sighed again and opened the drawer in his bedside table, searching for a second before finding a new one, pulled it out and closed the drawer. Then he tucked it between his front teeth and his hand once more picked up its drumming on the notebook.

Half an hour later he woke up with a start; this time he had actually been sleeping, and cursed loudly as he bit down hard on the pencil and it broke, lodging a piece between his teeth.

Wincing he sat up, concentrating to find out what had woken him, when the shrill ring of a cell phone sounded through the room, and he cursed again, this time his new phone for not having any normal ring tones.

He picked up the phone and checked the caller ID, sighing as he saw who it was and pressed the talk button.

"Hang on a sec," Jess muttered and got up from the bed, ignoring the confused response on the other end.

With the phone still in his hand he made his way over to the bathroom, turned on the light and spent some time rummaging through the shelves in search of a pair of tweezers. Finding them he made another grimace and quickly pulled the splinter out, throwing it in the sink.

On his way out of the bathroom he vowed never to bite on another pencil again, ignoring the fact that he had made the same vow many times before by picking up the phone again, interrupting Luke.

"Hey there Luke."

"What's going on?" Luke asked again, sounding both annoyed and worried.

"Nothing," Jess said dismissively. "I just had to take care of something."

"Right," Luke said, far from convinced, but didn't press the matter. Instead he changed the subject. "So, how're you doing?"

Jess smirked halfheartedly as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Fine."

"You sure?"

"I'm fine Luke," Jess insisted, rolling his eyes at no one.

"Ok," Luke said. "I just hadn't heard from you in a while and…"

"It's been three days, Luke," Jess interrupted him.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure." Luke said and Jess frowned, noticing his hesitation.

"What happened?" he asked.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Something's going on," Jess said. "And you're trying to decide if you should tell me."

Luke sighed on the other end and sat down by the kitchen table. "Yeah," he finally admitted.

"So, are you gonna tell me or not?"

Luke didn't say anything and for a while the only sound over the phone was static.

"You obviously thought it important enough to call me about it," Jess pointed out.

With a heavy sigh Luke answered. "I don't know if I should tell you, or if it's my place to do it, but…for some reason I thought you should know."

"Know what?" Jess asked, growing annoyed.

After a moment's hesitation Luke decided to just say it. "Rory and Logan broke up."

"Oh," Jess mumbled and frowned, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, that's why she was so upset the other day," Luke continued.

But Jess was hardly listening. Instead he sat still, the phone in his hand, wondering why he was surprised that she was the reason Luke called. He should have known, especially considering how nervous Luke sounded.

But no matter how many times he'd wanted to hear those words he wasn't sure how to take them. Somewhere he'd been sure he'd be nothing but happy, but he wasn't. He wasn't sure what exactly it was he was feeling, but it was definitely not happiness.

"Jess?"

Luke's voice abruptly brought him out of his thoughts.

"Are you there?" Luke asked, concern evident in his voice.

Jess nodded before he remembered Luke couldn't see him. "Yeah," he said instead, sitting up straight again, running a hand over his face.

"Is she ok?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"I don't know," Luke sighed. "She hasn't been outside the house."

Jess nodded slowly at the answer, not surprised. Luke listened to the silence on the other end and then decided to say what he was sure was on both their minds.

"You could…"

"No," Jess quickly cut him off. "I'd say I'm probably the last person she'd want to talk to."

"But…" Luke started to protest, but didn't get any longer.

"It doesn't change anything," Jess said quietly. "I just want to know if she's ok."

Luke sighed, but let it go. "Lorelai says she's getting there."

"Ok," Jess said, just as quiet as before.

They were quiet for a few moments and Luke kept glancing at the post-it note in his hand. Finally he sighed.

"If you do want to call her, here's her number," he said, and quickly read of the note before Jess could interrupt him.

Jess listened quietly, the numbers already memorized by the time Luke was finished. He stayed quiet, too many thoughts running through his mind, and after a while Luke sighed again and put the note down.

"Ok, I should get back to the diner," he said awkwardly.

"Ok," Jess nodded. "Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome," Luke said, not sure it was the right thing to say even as the words left his mouth. But Jess didn't say anything about it.

They said goodbye and Jess hung up his phone, tossing it on the bed beside him. He stared at the opposite wall for a long time before getting up and walking out in the kitchen to make himself a mug of tea.

He didn't think he would get anywhere with the story anytime soon anyway.


	17. Part 17

**This Crazy World**

* * *

**Summary:** Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.

**A/N:** So, I'm still alive. I won't try to come up with excuses for not updating, since it would be pointless. I just haven't written anything for a long time. End of story. And I won't make any promises for updates of either this story or anything else in the near future. I would just feel bad if I weren't able to fulfill them.

So, that's out of the way. I know it's been forever since I posted the last chapter of this story, so you might want to refresh your memory. It's really not that long. And I hope those of you out there who still remember me will like this.

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own any of these characters. I just like to occasionally make up stories about them.

* * *

**Part 17**

* * *

Taking a step back from the wall, Jess arched his back, and heard it crack loudly in the almost empty room, the sound echoing against the bare walls. He was exhausted, his whole body ached and he couldn't remember the last time he had slept more than an hour at a time, but he appreciated the hard work. It was a welcome respite from battling his recent bout of writer's block.

He tossed the worn out sandpaper in the general direction of a trash bag in the middle of the room, flexing his stiff fingers, and absentmindedly pushed a soggy strand of hair out of his eyes. Squinting in the bright light of the construction lamp he scrutinized the wall in front of him, using his hands to feel for any remaining imperfections. Finding a slight edge he pulled out a new piece of sandpaper from his pocket and got back to work.

Chris and Matt had preached to him about the advantages of using a sander, but he preferred to do it by hand, enjoyed the feeling of the rough wall getting gradually smoother under his fingers. And the satisfaction of watching the progress was so much better without the interference of noisy machinery.

With the last edge sanded down he pulled the mask away from his face, relieved to be rid of the sweaty fabric, and just breathed for a few moments, not caring about the dust still swirling in the air.

Starting to feel his throat tickle, he sighed and walked over to the door to get some fresh air, mentally preparing himself for the time consuming work of getting the room cleaned.

Flinging the door open he stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly finding himself face to face with Luke, standing on the landing, his arm poised to knock on the door.

Luke's eyes widened in surprise as he took in the scene in front of him.

Jess was the first to recover. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

But Luke just shook his head, not able to take his eyes off the sight in front of him, attempting to stifle a laugh.

Jess narrowed his eyes at him, which only resulted in Luke bursting full out laughing.

"What?" Jess demanded, but Luke just laughed harder, so Jess shut the door in his face, stalking back into the store, grumbling to himself.

Outside the door Luke waited a moment, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, before following his nephew inside. He found Jess angrily circling the room, picking up sandpapers and whirling up dust in the air.

"Wow," was all he said when he saw the state of the place, and slowly he closed the door behind him.

Jess ignored him, dumping the sandpapers in the trash bag and letting his mask follow suit.

Luke remained just inside the door, watching as Jess picked up a broom in a corner, shook it to rid it of some of the dust, and started brushing off the walls.

Finally Luke sighed.

"Look Jess, sorry about before," he started. "I saw the sign in the window; I just wasn't prepared to meet the snow monster."

"The snow monster?" Jess scoffed. "Wow Uncle Luke, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you came all this way just to make fun of me."

"No!" Luke protested. "That's not…"

"I mean, you could have put a little more thought into it, given you had almost three hours of spare time on your hands."

"Jess, could you be serious for one second?"

Jess ignored him. "But of course, you wouldn't have spare time after all, because of all the yelling you'd do at the other cars and all that.

"Jess," Luke sighed, exasperated. "I just…I mean, have you seen yourself in a mirror lately?"

"Well, next time I renovate anything I'll just stuff myself in a magic bubble," Jess retorted.

Luke couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Now that would be a sight."

"I'm sure," Jess said dryly and stopped brushing the wall, resting his weight on the broom. "So, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Luke repeated in amazement, walking further into the room. "I haven't heard from you in almost a month, and you've stopped answering your phone," he said accusingly. "I was getting worried."

"I've been busy," Jess defended, motioning vaguely around him.

"So I see," Luke agreed. "So, what's the reason for all of this?"

Jess shrugged. "There was a fire next door, something electrical, and there was some damage to one of the walls."

Luke just watched him, stunned. "Wow," he finally managed. "You say that like it's no big deal."

"And how should I say it?" Jess asked curiously.

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "But a fire, Jess. Things could've been so much worse. The place could've burned down, or you could've been hurt, or…"

Jess shrugged. "But it didn't, and I wasn't."

"But…why didn't you call me? I could've helped, or at least known you were ok."

Jess shrugged and looked down at the floor, not sure how to explain, or even if he had the answer. "I don't know," he finally said.

"Ok," Luke nodded, realizing he wouldn't get another answer, at least not now. "So, you want some help cleaning up?"

"Sure," Jess agreed after a moment, and stood up straight, giving the broom to Luke. "I'll be right back."

* * *

It was almost two hours later when Luke carried the trash bag out in the back alley, throwing it in the garbage container. Jess was already there, dusting off the broom and doing what he could for his clothes.

They had worked in silence, Luke brushing the dust off the walls and Jess wiping them down with a wet rag. The last dust had been swept up and the floor thoroughly washed. The only things left now to clean up were themselves.

Jess hit the broom once more against the brick wall, before deeming it dust free enough, and turned to his uncle. "Thanks," he said, leaning the broom against the wall, "for the help."

"You're welcome," Luke smiled. "So, what's the plan? Now that the ground work is done I mean."

"Well," Jess smirked, "I was gonna go grab a beer and something to eat when I was finished."

"Jess!" Luke muttered, annoyed.

"You're welcome to come with if you want," Jess offered, feigning ignorance.

"You know that's not…"

Jess just continued, seemingly unfazed by Luke's protests. "It's your choice of course. If you don't want to, I won't force you."

Luke just stared at him in silence for a moment before he threw his hands up in the air in defeat and stalked back into the store.

Jess chuckled to himself and followed his grumbling uncle. "So, Italian?" he suggested.

Luke let out a big sigh and shook his head. "Sure."

"Ok," Jess nodded. "I'm just gonna take a quick shower and put on something a little less stiff," he added with a grimace, motioning towards his clothes. "I would offer you a change of clothes as well, but I'm not sure I have anything that fits."

"Um, thanks," Luke said awkwardly, "but that won't be necessary."

"Huh?" Jess looked at him curiously. "Although you're not quite at the snow monster stage, you're well on your way."

Luke shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Well, I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying, so I brought some stuff."

Jess tried - not very hard, granted, but still - to hide his amusement. "Huh."

"You could've been in the hospital for all I knew!" Luke defended, glaring at his nephew. "I just wanted to be prepared."

"Ok," Jess said, dropping his smirk, and fished up a key from his pocket, giving it to Luke. "I'll go take that shower. Lock up when you get back."

Luke accepted the key with a nod and Jess went up the stairs.

* * *

Both in clean clothes, and far less resembling snow monsters, they were sitting at a corner table in a nearby Italian restaurant, waiting for their food and sipping on cold beers.

"I'm sorry I didn't call," Jess abruptly broke the silence.

Beside him Luke looked up, but didn't say anything, waiting for the other man to continue.

Jess absentmindedly took a drink from his beer. "I think I just needed to be alone for a while."

Luke nodded, muttering to himself. "I know the feeling."

"Huh?" Jess' head whipped up, and he watched Luke with a cocked eyebrow.

"What?" Luke questioned.

"Oh, nothing," Jess shrugged. "You just kinda insinuated I wasn't the only reason for this trip."

Luke stared at the younger man. "I did not!" he protested.

Jess just kept looking at him. "So, you came here because?"

"I was concerned for you!" Luke maintained, though he refused to take his eyes off his beer.

"And…" Jess pressed.

Luke was silent for a long time before he finally lifted his gaze. "And Lorelai and Rory are having a get together before Rory goes back to Yale next week."

"Oh." Jess put down his beer on the table, leaning back in his chair.

Watching his nephew carefully, Luke went on. "Yeah, they're on a trip, wouldn't tell me where."

Jess smirked, nodding to himself. "Sounds like them."

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "So, I put Caesar in charge of the diner, and thought I'd take the opportunity to come visit you, see if you were still alive."

"Ok," Jess said slowly. "So, why didn't you say so?"

"I…" Luke faltered, raising his glass, and setting it down again almost immediately. "I just never know if it's ok to talk about…you know, Rory."

"You don't have to protect me, you know," Jess said with a wry smirk.

"I wasn't…" Luke started to protest, but Jess cut him off with a pointed stare.

"You were," he stated. "And though it's a nice gesture, you don't have to censor yourself because of me."

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, confused.

Jess sighed. "If you're really getting back together with Lorelai, which, by the way, I assume you are, Rory is bound to be part of your life. You know, besides the whole coffee and food thing."

"Yeah," Luke nodded in understanding.

"And it's fine. I'm fine," Jess continued. "And it's time I stopped living in the past," he added resolutely.

Luke watched him closely. "Are you sure?"

Jess met his uncle's gaze and nodded. "I'm sure."

"Ok," Luke said after a moment.

He was about to say something else, when a waitress arrived with their food, effectively cutting him short. And when she left after wishing them a pleasant meal, Jess changed the subject.

"So," he said with a smirk, "anything exciting going on in the Hollow?"

Realizing their past subject was now officially closed, Luke looked up at his nephew. "Not since your stunt with the traffic light."

"Too bad," Jess smirked, digging into his pizza.

For a minute they were both silent, their food much appreciated after the busy night.

"Oh, that's right, I never got a chance to tell you," Luke suddenly said, stopping with a forkful of salad halfway in the air. "April stayed with me last week."

Jess looked up from his plate. "So, Anna finally gave in, huh?"

"Yeah," Luke smiled.

Jess smiled back, genuinely happy for his uncle. "Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"So," Jess asked in between pizza slices. "You do anything fun?"

"Well," Luke said, "I took her to the end of summer festival."

At that Jess got a horrified expression on his face. "You didn't!"

"What?" Luke asked him bewildered.

"And he doesn't even see it," Jess said, sadly shaking his head.

Luke blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry to inform you, Uncle Luke," Jess said dramatically, "but you're crossing over to the dark side."

"Hey," Luke exclaimed, "it was only one festival."

"That's how it starts," Jess stated.

"You're being overly dramatic," Luke protested.

But Jess just watched him, an expression of deep sorrow on his face and sighed deeply.

"You're impossible!" Luke exclaimed, shaking his head in exasperation, and went back to his food, studiously ignoring the young man.

Jess' sorrowful air turned into an amused smirk, and moments later he hungrily went back to his pizza.

* * *

"So, where are your partners?" Luke suddenly asked as they neared the store. "Shouldn't they be here helping you with the renovations?"

"You mean the two geniuses who couldn't figure out which way of a screw was which?" Jess asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at his uncle.

"It wasn't that bad," Luke tried, thinking back to the book case incident, cringing inwardly at the memory.

"Wasn't far from it," Jess shrugged. "Anyway, we all agreed it'd be best if they…stayed away for a while."

"Oh," Luke nodded.

"They've set up a temporary office at Matt's parents' house," Jess clarified. "They're taking care of all the paperwork with the insurance company and suppliers and all that."

"Sounds good," Luke said and looked around, noticing they had arrived, and stopped at the foot of the stairs.

Jess continued up and unlocked the door. "You coming?" he asked, looking down at his uncle.

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, hesitating. "'Cause I could just find a hotel."

"Are you kidding?" Jess questioned. "Chris is staying with Matt, so it's just me here. Plenty of room to spare."

"Well, if it's not a problem…" Luke relented.

"Of course not," Jess stated.

"Ok then," Luke agreed. "Just let me get some things from the car."

"Sure," Jess nodded and waited by the door while Luke went over and grabbed a bag from the backseat of his car.

They entered together and Jess hit the light switch, the naked light bulb flickering to life, illuminating the bare, grey walls, as he moved on to lock the door.

"You planned on painting the ceiling?" Luke asked after watching the room for a moment, taking a few steps forward.

"Yeah," Jess said, joining him and pointed to a part of the room to the left of them. "You can't really see it in this light, but the wall and ceiling over there's been rebuilt."

"Oh," Luke mumbled and walked over, taking a closer look. "It's good work," he commented. "I didn't even see it before."

"Yeah," Jess agreed. "The guys who're fixing up next door did it. They had to fix the wall anyway, so…"

"Of course," Luke nodded and turned away from his inspection of the wall. "So, we should start with the ceiling tomorrow then."

"We?" Jess questioned, frowning.

Luke watched him incredulously. "You didn't really think I'd leave you alone with all of this, did you?"

Jess just shrugged.

"Well, I'm staying, end of discussion," Luke stated, a little more forcefully than intended.

"Ok," Jess said, a small smile on his face. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Luke muttered.

The room turned silent for a moment, before Jess nodded towards the stairs. "So, I'll show you where you can sleep."

Luke nodded and followed him.


End file.
